Gyaltsen Tashi wrote:I think even the gurus are helpless in this torrent of suffering. Pretty soon they will all pass away, and we will be left to our own devices.

MalaBeads wrote:

Gyaltsen Tashi wrote: I don't know. I used to take comfort lovey-dovey compassion. But now no guru is badass enough to inspire me. I'm going through the motions. Maybe I should leave Buddhism for good.

I'm in a war zone. I'm angry. I used to have psychosis. I live under a dictatorship. I'm so tired. I just want to go home....

Regards, Gyaltsen Tashi

I am sorry to hear this, GT.

I don't have anything to offer you except maybe this. In English we have saying: home is where the heart is. Even the Buddha said: hatred will never cease by hatred but only through love. In my own life, it has taken many, many years to get to a place where I could even remotely imagine the possibility of actual love. I have seen the faces of stone cold hatred and it is an awful sight.

I hope for you to see and understand the difference between what you are calling lovey-dovey compassion and actual love. Love is very healing but it is often quite difficult to see. Its something that is in very short supply here in the west but we are working on it.

All the best to you.

I agree with you, GT. Even the gurus can be overwhelmed by all the suffering in this world, if they contemplate it for even a few seconds. Lucky for all of us though, impermanence can also be a positive event. This being overwhelmed, this death of our gurus, is also impermanent. As we say, impermanence cuts both ways.

Gyaltsen Tashi wrote:I create my own misery, and I don't know how to stop.

Regards, Gyaltsen Tashi

Wow, This is part of the Four Noble Truths! Most beings don't know this!

A Kagyu teaching told that not knowing to be suffering is suffering itself. When we know it, we throw a light on it, even we don't see that light since we are caught by minds' habits. We all think to be the struggling itselves which is suffering and not the always present peaceful nature in which this struggling is released. On this youtube children are singing a song which obviously was made by enslaved people in Africa. looks like just how we are enslaved by our mistaken self. (Okay take the lord and the angels as our caring nature or whatever translation helps for you) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awSdp8IODm0

We better don't associate our being with anything, but trust guidance by Awaken Nature (Awaken Spiritual Friend-Master), who is showing we are the peaceful buddha nature itself. Oh boy, I already know this post makes no sense, but still, maybe it is my simple prayer.

Gyaltsen Tashi wrote:I create my own misery, and I don't know how to stop.

Regards, Gyaltsen Tashi

Wow, This is part of the Four Noble Truths! Most beings don't know this!

A Kagyu teaching told that not knowing to be suffering is suffering itself. When we know it, we throw a light on it, even we don't see that light since we are caught by minds' habits. We all think to be the struggling itselves which is suffering and not the always present peaceful nature in which this struggling is released. On this youtube children are singing a song which obviously was made by enslaved people in Africa. looks like just how we are enslaved by our mistaken self. (Okay take the lord and the angels as our caring nature or whatever translation helps for you) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awSdp8IODm0

We better don't associate our being with anything, but trust guidance by Awaken Nature (Awaken Spiritual Friend-Master), who is showing we are the peaceful buddha nature itself. Oh boy, I already know this post makes no sense, but still, maybe it is my simple prayer.

"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

I don't know. After years of listening and reading, of course I can parrot some of the teachings. But right now, I think I'll still give people shit ala Eminem, instead of regretting that I let some random joker tramp on my personhood. But then there's no "I", is there? As I said, I can be a parrot....

Gyaltsen Tashi wrote:I don't know. After years of listening and reading, of course I can parrot some of the teachings. But right now, I think I'll still give people shit ala Eminem, instead of regretting that I let some random joker tramp on my personhood. But then there's no "I", is there? As I said, I can be a parrot....

I am also parrotting expressions which are all and all already said. What can there be add other than my arrogance which binds "me"?

Years? I cannot count the lifes anymore! We should have to open a tread in which we prove who is now the worst practicioner.

From "Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-Called Preliminary Practices":

The eighth samaya prohibits you from mistreating your body, which is, in essence, the five buddha families; therefore to be contemptuous of your body and treat it badly is to break samaya. I should also add that those who consider themselves worthless, useless beings not fit to take up even the tiniest of spaces in the world are also breaking this samaya.

The whole purpose of Buddhism is to have fun, isn't it? - Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche

“NEVER GIVE UPNo matter what is going onNever give upDevelop the heartToo much energy in your countryIs spent developing the mindInstead of the heartBe compassionateNot just to your friendsBut to everyoneBe compassionateWork for peaceIn your heart and in the worldWork for peaceAnd I say againNever give upNo matter what is going on around youNever give up”H H Dalai Lama

I know the feeling but maybe words are ok in their own dimension. Just don't have big expectations.

--- and some words are pretty helpful ---

Especially the well meaning words of the lineage holders like DKR. Thank you OP.

But maybe also not so necessary - like painting flowers or sex with your cloths on

So when your mind obsesses and goes round and round without stopping, shout "PHET" (in a place where you will not disturb anyone) and observe the space in your thoughts, after.

Or have a warm fuzzy - do something that has made you feel good before. This can be a very small thing. Just call it "progress" or "getting success". Have a bubble bath - make some pop corn - put some popcorn in your bubble bath????? The point is to be creative and create a gap and reverse the downwards spiral.

Of course tooooooo much chocolate, or ice cream, or wine, etc. is not a good thing. And a warm fuzzy can just be stopping from banging your head against the wall (figuratively speaking), or your partner, or relative, or boss, for a while. The point is to make a gap in the spiral and from within that gap create the capacity to take off in a different direction.

Or saying something truthfully nice to someone who is TOTALLY nasty or impossible. This really freaks them out - creates a gap. Like, "wow what a nice Kalashnikov you have Mr. Terrorist - you must have polished that for hours!" - You have then entered their dimension AND given them a warm fuzzy that MIGHT allow them to see a gap and keep from doing another bad thing to someone on their downward spiral.

Can you say something that gets the next person you talk to to laugh? I'll settle for mild amusement. Can you get a laugh out of the next stranger you meet? If you get someone to smile you are smiling too.

If all else fails, remind yourself that whatever shit storm / fubar you are in, it will pass and later you will laugh at yourself and all the trouble you have caused yourself and others.

“NEVER GIVE UPNo matter what is going onNever give upDevelop the heartToo much energy in your countryIs spent developing the mindInstead of the heartBe compassionateNot just to your friendsBut to everyoneBe compassionateWork for peaceIn your heart and in the worldWork for peaceAnd I say againNever give upNo matter what is going on around youNever give up”H H Dalai Lama

I have nothing but the highest regard and the deepest respect for HHDL. However in reading that quote with the "Never Give Up" refrain, I get this real "Galaxy Quest" feeling from it. Not his fault, just my own cultural pollution.

My posts are for entertainment purposes only. Please don't take anything I say seriously unless you verify it with a real teacher first.

“NEVER GIVE UPNo matter what is going onNever give upDevelop the heartToo much energy in your countryIs spent developing the mindInstead of the heartBe compassionateNot just to your friendsBut to everyoneBe compassionateWork for peaceIn your heart and in the worldWork for peaceAnd I say againNever give upNo matter what is going on around youNever give up”H H Dalai Lama

I have nothing but the highest regard and the deepest respect for HHDL. However in reading that quote with the "Never Give Up" refrain, I get this real "Galaxy Quest" feeling from it. Not his fault, just my own cultural pollution.

But I have no Bushmen example of this! I like Bushmen. Pollution. My, I, me, mine indeed. Ngondro.

dzogchungpa wrote:Some more interesting book recommendations from DJKR:

And then to develop a critical mind, books such as 'The End of Faith' by Sam Harris, 'Feet of Clay' by Anthony Storr. 'Feet of Clay' may be good to read just before the Guru Yoga.

I have just come across this. Anthony Storr was a good and compassionate man. I overlapped with him... working at the same hospital towards the end of his career....He was also a man who spent much of his adult life battling with depression.This no doubt gave him great empathy with his patients, but perhaps made him less reliable as a guide to potential influences.

" My heart's in the Highlands my heart is not here.My heart's in the Highlandschasing the deer."

dzogchungpa wrote:Some more interesting book recommendations from DJKR:

And then to develop a critical mind, books such as 'The End of Faith' by Sam Harris, 'Feet of Clay' by Anthony Storr. 'Feet of Clay' may be good to read just before the Guru Yoga.

I have just come across this. Anthony Storr was a good and compassionate man. I overlapped with him... working at the same hospital towards the end of his career....He was also a man who spent much of his adult life battling with depression.This no doubt gave him great empathy with his patients, but perhaps made him less reliable as a guide to potential influences.

Interesting insight as to what might have motivated him to debunk so many cultural icons.

Reaffirms my own bias that all creative work (and I am including practice in this which is always creative in the sense that it must respond to the actual circumstances of ones life and is, hence, unique) is based on the personal. There is no substitue for experience. None.

Even if the "personal" is not what we think it is.

I am well aware of my idiocy. I am also very aware that you too are an idiot. Therein lies our mutuality.